"Where is the jam? There is no jam today and there wasn't any yesterday."
That was what superintendent of police (traffic) P.K. Das told The Telegraph on Tuesday, when asked about the regular snarls on Mahatma Gandhi Setu - Patna's only roadway to and from north Bihar.
Defending his stand, Das brandished images sent by two CCTV cameras installed on the 5.575km bridge's Patna end (pillar No. 46) and pillar No. 37 to his office.
"I am in my office, which has CCTV footage beamed live by two cameras installed on the bridge. I don't find any traffic jam," Das claimed. "The Patna side of the bridge is not facing any problem. The problem mainly persists on the Hajipur side where there is no lane driving. On Monday, I ensured a solution to this problem, too. Those involved in community policing in Sonepur have been deputed on the Hajipur side to ensure lane driving. The community policing initiative for the Sonepur fair was my idea and they come to help whenever I request them to. Absence of lane driving makes way for jam on the Hajipur side of the bridge."
Das - whose jurisdiction starts from pillar No. 37 to pillar No. 46 on the key bridge - blamed traffic problems on unruly drivers who break lanes. The Hajipur (Vaishali) police supervise traffic between the bridge's pillars numbers 1 and 36.
The state government had also termed the traffic mess on Gandhi Setu a "seasonal problem", countering the Opposition claim that allowing heavy vehicles on the bridge was to blame. On Monday, the BJP MLA from Lakhisarai, Vinay Kumar Sinha, rued that the traffic management on the bridge was in a shambles, as it took him almost three hours to cross the bridge. Vinay was supported by Sanjay Saraogi, another BJP MLA from Darbhanga, who said it had taken him hours to cross the bridge while he was on way to Patna even on Sunday. Both MLAs had said the state government could check the CCTV camera footage to see for themselves.
Energy and commercial taxes minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, while replying to the BJP leaders, said the jams were "seasonal" and were happening because of the wedding season.
On Tuesday, SP (traffic) Das also declared that there was no movement of heavy vehicles on the bridge as alleged by the Opposition. Since April last year, the state government had imposed a ban on the movement of heavy vehicles of 10 wheels or more.
In June, Patna police had introduced lane driving on the bridge and on approach roads to the bridge and things remained smooth for six months. However, the bridge has been facing snarls all over again since November 20, the day the new government under Nitish Kumar took oath at the Gandhi Maidan.
"I am shocked when a policeman says that there is no jam on the bridge," said Pappu Kumar from Muzaffarpur, who was in a bus on Tuesday waiting for the jam on the bridge to clear. "How can they even say that? I am stuck here for two hours now. Last week too I was stuck for hours. I have to visit Patna frequently for work. We are helpless!"
